Late last week, Paumanok Vineyards harvested 3.9 tons of chardonnay for their sparkling wine program. It came in at 17.6 brix with pH of 3.01 and TA of 11.4 g/l. According to winemaker Kareem Massoud, we may not be able to enjoy the resulting wine “until 2018, possibly 2016 or 2017.”
Posts Tagged“2012”
Send Us Your 2012 Grape Harvest Updates
The 2012 harvest season has begun in New York, with pinot noir and chardonnay being picked across the state for sparkling wine production. The past few years, we’ve made a concerted effort to publish as many harvest photos as we can — so please send them our way along with some basic harvest data — tonnage, brix, etc. and anything interesting about the grapes that you’d like to include. Good luck to all of our friends in the New York wine industry!
Hop Harvest Party in Niagara County!
McCollum Orchards hosted an old-fashioned harvest party this week to enlist the helping hands of their Niagara County neighbors, willing homebrewers in search of “U-Pick” hops, and any folks interested in experiencing the farm’s first commercial hop harvest. As guests helped owners Rich and Bree Woodbridge cut down Cascade bines and pluck hop cones, then sort them and lay them out on drying racks –– all in 90-degree heat –– the community got a taste of the life of a hop farmer. They also got a taste of banana bread, homemade brownies, pie, hot dogs, and a fresh batch of…
Harvest Update: Cascade and Centennial Hops at McCollum Orchards
McCollum Orchards, Niagara’s new hops farm and orchard in Lockport, New York, kicked off its first commercial harvest this week with Centennial hops. Bree Bacon Woodbridge, co-owner of the farm with her husband Rich, reports that the crop “looks pretty good, all things considered. We picked several cones that are the size of my thumb.” Woodbridge says the very hot, dry 2012 season brought “more pest pressure than last year. We were back on our heels and then were able to put in irrigation, with inline fertilizer, which helped regulate a lot. We have done a lot of hand-picking of…
Vineyard Visuals Niagara: Riesling Down at Eveningside Vineyards
Eveningside Vineyards in Cambria saw a storm pass through last weekend that literally took down a row of riesling vines next to their tasting room. I arrived the next day to see it for myself and ask owner Randy Biehl how things looked. Bryan Calandrelli: So when did this happen? Randy Biehl: About 6:30 Saturday evening we were in the tasting room closing up and the building started rumbling. We looked outside and saw shingles in the yard and our lawn chairs flying around in front of the vineyard and then I saw our first row of riesling was down…
Veraison 2012: Syrah at Bedell Cellars
Veraison 2012: Pinot Noir at Macari Vineyards
Veraison 2012: Baco Noir at Benmarl Winery
Finger Lakes Hail Damage: “In Ten Minutes, Everything Was Lost”
The May 29 storms that hit the Finger Lakes brought a variety of rough weather elements, including hail. A few bursts of hail were large and destructive, and while most Finger Lakes wineries were not affected, Cayuga Ridge Winery is now confirming a loss of nearly 100%. [pullquote_right] It’s been an emotional time here. We work all season to ensure a healthy harvest, and in a short time it was all destroyed.” [/pullquote_right] “The hail hit us for about ten minutes on that Tuesday afternoon,” said Mary Jane Kircher, whose family owns and operates Cayuga Ridge. “There were pockets…
Fighting Frost in the Finger Lakes
Some photographs tell a deeper story than the first glance reveals. This beautiful shot was taken by Todd Eichas at New Vines Bed & Breakfast on the east side of Seneca Lake, shortly after 6:00am this past Saturday. It shows more than a placid spring morning. New Vines sits on top of a hill overlooking two of the region’s most acclaimed vineyards: Magdalena Vineyard and Josef Vineyard, which are owned and operated by Hermann J. Wiemer. Eichas says his thermometer read 28 degrees on Saturday morning, but he says the vineyards below are always several degrees warmer. I asked Hermann…